Crash and Burn
by kiwi-messer
Summary: One chilly December morning Detectives Danny Messer and Lindsay Monroe are summoned to a back alley where two bodies, apparently unconnected lay. What mysteries do these bodies hide and Is that vodka Lindsay's drinking? Danny has a cat? I see scandal...
1. Chapter 1

The bright lights danced across the street illuminating the dark doorway opposite the chaotic dance club. The bass beat out across the neighbourhood like the heart beat of the man lying in the doorway slowly bleeding out. Alley cats fought in some street behind the club, drowned out apart from their bitter sweet sympathy of death, as the ginger tom came flying over the wall dividing the streets, blood pouring from his wounds, blood matting the fur that could have once been pretty, the man took his last breath and shuddered to his death. The dying beats from the last song of the night swept his Elysian field, his last resting place and crashed to an end.

Two doorways down a young woman with streaming red hair that was illumined by the flashing lights from the club. She huddled as if to guard herself from the chill in the December air, a reasonable action given the thin clothing she wore. She sniffed, the cold causing her nose to drip and with a flash of metallic she raised the thing she was cradling so protectively to her body and watched almost serenely as her life blood sprayed in a beautiful arch to splash the wall and door. Then in slow motion she slumped forward, looking like any other sleeping street person. With a clang the silver knife fell to the ground, its tip covered in blood.

"_Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart_

_I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you_

_Its hard to find relief and people can be so cold"_

A faceless police officer joked to his friend about the two stiffs as he rolled the yellow tape around the two scenes, he'd seen too many bodies in this part of town to worry about one more dead hooker and another dead druggie. How very wrong he was, these two stiffs were more than anyone could bargain for and it just so happened that Danny Messer, dragged out of his delightfully warm bed and Lindsay Monroe were the CSI's that had this little disaster on their hands.

"_When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you cant take anymore. Let me be the one you call"_

Danny Messer had been comfortably asleep at five thirty this morning, his dreams filled with visions of his parents coming around to Sunday lunch with him and his wife and their kids waiting. They'd have a beautiful two story home on Long Island with one of those veranda's that ran all the way around the house with a spot in the sun for the cat to sleep where the kids couldn't get at her. After all Mitts might like some peace in her retirement, God knows she didn't get it now. His Dad was just helping his mother out of their car, Ma's face alight at seeing her son and his family again, never mind she'd been dead from breast cancer for the last five years or even that his father was an abusive alcoholic. Just as his mother was about to mount the stairs of Danny's fantasy home to greet her daughter in law the phone next to his bed rang.

Danny startled out of sleep flipped over in bed, hitting Mitts in the head on the way and grabbed the phone. The grey tabby cat previously curled up next to his leg sat up and with a long lingering lick of her paw glared at him. He winked back at her, hoping his masculine charm would work on his cat as well as female suspects, it didn't and Mitts leapt with graceful dignity from his bed to the door with her tail held high. Ignoring the antics of his cat and only companion, he spoke.

"Messer,"

Ten minutes later he pulled back the covers and got out of bed, wandering over to the shower he jumped in and out as fast as he could and with a towel wrapped around his waist, water still dripping off his toned chest he headed toward the kitchen. Mitts sat with her tail wrapped around herself on one of the bar stools, Danny laughed and patted her as he walked past, she responded affectionately, her morning wake up call forgotten. He spoke to her as he grabbed an on the road breakfast and had a few gulps of coffee.

"Got two bodies in Brooklyn… girl and a guy…. Wondering if its a drug deal gone bust but Mac said the girl's a straight up suicide, maybe not connected. Ho can you imagine that Mitts- two bodies in the same alley on the same night and not connected. I'd resign if that's the case"

Danny pulled on his boots while balancing on a bar stool next to Mitts, breakfast bar in mouth. Standing up he patted Mitts and kissed her head and ran out the door. Mitts sat looking at the red door until less than thirty seconds later Danny opened it again and retrieved his phone from the counter. Waving he ran back out. Mitts shook her little head at her masters antics and sauntered off to begin her day, starting with a nice bath on the pool table in the sun.

"_And there has always been heartache and pain And when its over you'll breathe again. You'll breath again"_

Lindsay Monroe was no where near as ready as her colleague for her day. Her phone buzzed under the couch she was currently using as a bed, one leg flung over the side and the other over the end. She yawned and groped about for it, catching it with her finger tips she groaned when she saw Mac's name on her screen.

"Monroe,"

She listen attentively to her boss and then with a groan looked up at the clock above her television, she had twenty minutes, that gave her ten to lie on the couch and doze if she didn't change, she didn't even pause to think about it and lay back and closed her eyes.

Fifteen minutes later her eyes sprang open and Lindsay swung into action. Racing to the bathroom she quickly took off her make up from the night before and replaced it with make up that covered the signs of her hangover. She brushed her hair and grabbed a can of hair spray to hold it in place then, swallowing the aspirin that was in the drawer for her headache, rushed to the kitchen. Skidding to a stop on her tiled floor, socks sliding easily, she gabbed the small opened water bottle from the bench and took a swing, just enough vodka burned down her throat to get her though the day. On speed clean she removed the bottles lying on the floor and standing upright around the coffee table and hid them. She grabbed her keys, phone and bag and left the apartment to wait for Danny downstairs.

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**A/N well clearly I don't own CSI NY or any related shows and I certainly don't own the lyrics to Savage Garden's Crash and Burn, which is one song of many that will appear in this story. Now i know i have a pile of reviewers out there waiting for the next installment of My Mothers Daughter which will come out soon but I've only just got my laptop back after a string of horrible disarsters and first priority is catching up on work i have to get in asap, then I'll do the final editing on My mothers Daughter. This story I've been typing up at the library and now able to post.**

**enjoy my darling reviewers and I shall come abounding though with the next chapter soon...**

**Kiwi**


	2. Everybody's Fool

Don Flack greeted Danny and Lindsay as they stepped out of the black SUV with a jerk of the head. His little black notebook was in hand ready to relay all the details to the CSI's. As they strolled over to the first body, that of the young woman,

"Here we have body numero uno. Thankfully this young lady had ID on her. Drivers license says her name is Julia Engel aged 24 years old last May, now while she may be dressed as a hooker she's far from it. Her grandfather is, or rather was, William Engel the diamond billionaire from South Africa. This girl was worth millions and according to her family was only down this part of town to scout talent at the new club." Flack stopped looking at the dead girl and gestured to the club across the road. "Joints called 'Moonlight Cat' not very classy name but its suppose to be the new it place for the young and wealthy. Club owner says they have security cameras and is willing to give us totally co-operation- provided the club's name is left out of the news. Its not the sort of publicity he's looking for."

"_Just what we all need_

_more lies about a world that_

_never was and never will be"_

Walking over to the second body "This one isn't so easy. Our guy has no ID just a nasty knife wound and only one shoe. He isn't dressed like a street person though. Club manager saw nothing and heard nothing. Just so you know, until we ID this vic and establish any connection between the two we're working this as a connected case." Flack shrugged and left the CSI's to do their job. As he walked past Lindsay on his way to the car he could have sworn he smelt alcohol on her breath. _Nah_, he though shaking his head, _Lindsay's too professional for that and she's not the sort anyway._

"_Look here she comes now_

_bow down and stare in wonder _

_oh how we love you _

_no flaws when you're pretending"_

Lindsay looked at the man lying in the gutter, she grimaced at the sight of his dried blood in a small pile of what looked like human waste, ugh, she'd have to pick that up. Every bit of evidence is important, Mac was always saying it and she really couldn't afford to lose her job. She mustered her courage, suppressed her stomach and bagged and tagged the shit. Finishing the surroundings she examined the body itself but the pockets and hands contained nothing and as she wasn't a medical examiner she wasn't qualified to look anywhere else. Stepping back from the body, she let the ME do his job and went to wait for Danny at the car.

"_Without the mask where will you hide_

_ can't find yourself lost in your lie"_

Danny took the first body, photographing the young woman and the silver knife. As he worked he thought about the privileged young woman that lay in the doorway at his feet. She had everything and yet she still couldn't fight off the flaws that made humans mortal. She wasn't perfect despite her appearance. She still had bad things happen to her, the very thing he was avoiding in his own life. He bit his lip as he tested the knife for blood, it came back positive and he bagged it. He quickly finished after that and as he climbed into the car with Lindsay, sent a glance backwards to see the dead girls arm roll out of the body bag for a moment. It graced the ground with its knuckles, as if it was stroking a cat- just for a moment until the ME's assistant tucked the arm back in. Almost like it was a dirty secret he had to keep hidden. Danny knew about those.

A few hours later Mac asked them both to go over the case in the staff meeting, given that the deceased girl was very high profile this was bound to be one of those that interfered with everyone- no matter whether they would on the case or not. After listening to Danny go out about the Club owner's statement and the manager's denial of seeing anything, Mac put down his pen and rubbed his temples.

"I hate to say it guys but someone needs to check the club out. This could be the link to identifying our mystery man and finding the link, if there is one, between the two. I want you and Lindsay to go undercover and find out if there's something they're not telling us. I notice the security tape from inside the club is missing…" He trailed off looking expectantly at Danny.

"The manager said he couldn't give it up for privacy reasons. Owner backed his story. I suspect there's something they're not telling us so I'm happy to undercover" Danny looked at Lindsay who swallowed nervously.

"uh, Okay I'll do it." Danny nodded.

"Pick you up at eight."

"_It never was and never will be _

_you're not real and you can't save me _

_somehow now you're everybody's fool"_

That night Lindsay practically ran down the stairs and out the door desperate to get home so she could shower and have a drink before she had to deal with being at a nightclub full of booze and being unable to drink it. Her heels clicked and clacked across the pavement as she hailed a cab and then tapped on the floor of the cab as she waited anxiously. Her throat was dry and she knew the only thing that would help was sitting on her kitchen counter, a bottle of red wine from New Zealand's Hawkes Bay. A nice wine that should be drunk with a nice meal and brilliant company but Lindsay didn't have time for any of that. She need her fix. She need to forget, something that would have to wait, until after Danny had gone.

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**A/N I don't own the songs or the characters... I just own the plot.**

**Well another chapter over, thanks so much to those that reviewed in my last chapter. To avoid lists on each chapter I'll collectively thank you then for those that review BOTH chapters... well you get a special mention in chapter three. Just to point out a few things, rating has changed and yes I notice Lindsay is a bit of an alcoholic and Danny, well Danny's issues come to light more about chapter three and four. This is because they are flawed but don't worry there are back stories coming...**

**Reviews encourage writing so please keep doing it...**

**KIWI**


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